Interview: Masked Wolf

Recently there has been a few stars coming from our neighbours in Australia and one of them goes by the name Masked Wolf, I had the pleasure of catching up with the Australian Rapper over the phone in Marlborough and we got to talk about his journey so far, life in the music industry, and who his dream collab is right now!

Hey Masked Wolf, congratulations on all your recent success, I saw you have finally been able to get out and play live again how has that been?

It’s been, very very amazing to be honest, to play to that atmosphere and it’s really good to see people I guess, living again. 

What was your first reaction when you first saw that ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ went viral?

It was more like, I think it was more like, is this, is this actually happening type feeling you know what I mean? I guess everyone that is an artist, where you know you start and you’re trying to like make it dreams of having that hit. An I never really planned on having a hit like I never made songs, I just made songs that I enjoyed. It was like a weird feeling because im like it’s possibly actually happening.  

Yeah, now is your moment, thats incredible,  How did you know that you wanted to pursue music as a career?

I never really, like I never knew I never said to myself “Im gonna be in music” it was more like a natural entry into the love of music, it was just like at 13 or 14 I was writing lyrics because it was an emotional outlet for me, so it was more of a natural way of me finding out that I wanted to be a rapper, or just naturally writing about emotions as sort of an outlet for my feelings and it just turned into making songs.

I did notice your message through your music which can sometimes be rare to come across in rap these days, how important is it for you to stay true to who you are through a scene that is heavily influenced by the likes of drugs, fame, money and material items and show that to your fans?

Yeah, I think that is like the most important part because I always said to myself if I ended up rapping about that type of thing or if I switched over and became that type of rapper which I have like nothing against what they say everyone can talk about whatever they want to talk about but for me, thats my authenticity thats who I am thats my call thats my code and for me to stick to that is like very important because if I drop off or move away from that then I move away from me.

Being in the industry and obviously what has gone on for you in the last year it would be mentally draining at times so how do you keep your mental health in check? 

Um to be honest man, I guess I just appreciate what is going on to be honest when it comes to music, it is very easy in life to get caught up in the negatives, it’s very easy to look at the negatives over the positives sometimes when there are more negatives in front of you. Like you know at the moment I am getting the opportunity to do what I have always wanted to do and whether it is less sleep or more hours doing the job it doesn’t matter you know there are more positives involved.  I guess it’s always about the mindset and looking at what the positives are over the negatives. 

When creating a new song do you have a specific process you do every time or do you always switch it up?

Yeah, I always look for a beat first as a lot of others do but the beat sort of outlines the story for me it’s like the canvas, I will always go from the beat to trying to find a really catchy melody whether it’s like thinking of the words and going for the chorus, but its always beat, chorus, verse for me.

How much do you think it means for young Australians that want to be artists in the future, to see the likes of you going global and even The Kid Laroi blowing up and getting exposure beyond Australia and New Zealand, how important do you think that is?

For me in particular I always loved Kid Laroi success but we are two different people massively because one he is so young, and two im quite older and I think that plays a big part because the message I get is like “You stuck to it for over ten years and didn’t give up”. This is what the whole game is about so from what I know I have helped some people with being inspired and sticking to it, I mean anything in life is about perseverance, and just continuing on through the obstacles. So I think there is a lot of people in Australia, there is a lot of rappers that are coming up now that want to be known and I think the wave is being set if not been set, Its an exciting time to be an Australian Rapper or wanting to be an Australian Rapper

If there was one artist right now that you could collab with who would it be?

Joyner Lucas.

Joyner Lucas.

Yeah, he’s the man.

Is that a hint for us?

It’s just who I wanna collab with, he is literally my idol, you can hear some influence from him in my songs at some points because he has this quality of being able to rap very upfront but still have catchy choruses and address the real issue.

Hey I just want to thank you so much for your time this has been the most inspiring interview I have done, I really appreciate it.

No worries brother, Not a problem bro, thanks for the support.

I can’t wait to keep watching your journey.

Thanks man you take it easy.

Reviewed by: Aidan Treston